Participants in many sports use protective headgear. Football players have long worn helmets to protect themselves from blows to the head. Hockey players also wear helmets for the same reason. Bicyclists are now wearing helmets.
A relatively new sport is snowboarding which is performed on the “slopes” along with skiers. Snowboarders and skiers are especially susceptible to accidents. For the most part, these accidents involve falling. The United States Consumer Products Commission has concluded that helmet use by skiers and snowboarders could prevent or reduce the severity of forty-four percent of head injuries to adults and fifty-three percent of head injuries to children. The using of head protection by snowboarders and skiers could prevent several deaths each year. In at least one country, a national study found that head injuries amongst skiers wearing helmets were fifty percent lower than for skiers not wearing helmets.
In the past few years, more and more snowboarders and skiers are starting to wear helmets. The increase of helmet usage is great news. However, there are still a substantial number of people who refuse to wear helmets. Some snowboarders and skiers feel that helmets are big, heavy, bulky and ridiculous looking. A terminology “mushroom heads” is being applied to a user of a helmet. Also, the added weight of the helmet throws off the rider's center of gravity. Helmets are hot and sweaty. Many times, a skier or snowboarder can't even use goggles with a helmet because of the heat that is generated by the helmet which causes fogging up of the goggles. Many times, it is impractical to use a helmet with goggles because it is difficult to get the goggles to fit in conjunction with the helmet. There is a need to construct a light weight but yet very protective form of headgear that can be used by a skier and snowboarder that looks attractive and can be purchased at a reasonable cost.
The primary areas of head injury in conjunction with skiers and snowboarders are the back of a head and the sides of a head. Therefore, it is the intention of the protective headgear of the present invention to provide for protection to only these areas of the head.